1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to therapeutic exercise gloves, and in particular to an exercise glove for intrinsic muscles and method of use.
2. Background of the Invention
Aside from the human brain, the hand is arguably the most important feature that sets humans apart from other living creatures. Hands incorporate opposable thumbs, which allows grasping of different articles. Absent the opposable thumb, mankind's progress would have been greatly hampered.
Hands consist of the wrist, or carpus, the palm (metacarpus) and the digits: four fingers and the afore-mentioned opposable thumb. Twenty seven bones make up the hand skeletal structure. Thirty five muscles move the human hand, allowing a great variety of intricate and delicate tasks to be accomplished. From jeweler to musician to legal secretary, the hand is one of the most important tools.
Thus, it can be extremely disabling and inconvenient when a hand is injured. Hand repair and healing frequently involves rehabilitation of muscles which may have shrunken and become atrophied during the hand healing process. One of the most challenging sets of muscles to rehabilitate can be the intrinsic muscles. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an exercise glove for intrinsic muscles, which permits these to be exercised and rehabilitated in a physical therapy environment following damage or injury to the hand.
Referring now to FIG. 1, we observe human hand 2. Each digit comprises three segments: proximal finger segment 5, middle finger segment 7, and distal finger segment 9, and three associated bones: proximal phalanx 4, middle phalanx 6, and distal phalanx 8. Proximal phalanx 4 is rotatably attached to metacarpus 3 at metacarpal phalangeal joint 10. Middle phalanx 6 is rotatably attached to proximal phalanx 4 at proximal interphalangeal joint 12. Finally, distal phalanx 8 is rotatably attached to middle phalanx 6 at distal interphalangeal joint 14.
Hand 2 muscles further comprise the thenar imminence 16 at the base of the thumb. Thenar imminence base 18 is disposed at the wrist-side end of thenar imminence 16, slightly off-center of the wrist towards the radial side.
The intrinsic muscles are made up of two principal groups: the lumbrical muscles, and the interossei muscles. The lumbricals are disposed on the radial side of each digit. The interossei are divided into two sets: the dorsal interossei and the palmar interossei. The dorsal interossei are disposed between the metacarpal bones. The palmar interossei are smaller than the dorsal interossei, and are disposed along the radial side of each digit.
The palmer interossei muscles adduct the fingers to an imaginary line passing lengthwise through the middle finger, and the dorsal interossei muscles abduct the fingers from that line. The lumbrical intrinsic muscles, in conjunction with the interossei muscles, flex the proximal phalanges at the metacarpal phalangeal joint, and extend the middle and distal phalanges.
When a hand rehabilitation exercise requires the flexing of the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints, a major problem is that, absent some type of mechanical constraint, the metacarpal phalangeal joint drifts into flexion. If the metacarpal phalangeal joint is flexed, then the intrinsic muscles cannot be properly stretched by flexing the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints. From a physical therapy stance, the optimum position in which to hold the metacarpal phalangeal joint during intrinsic muscle stretching by flexing the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints, is in a 30-45 degree extended position, as depicted in FIG. 8.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an exercise glove for intrinsic muscles which holds the metacarpal phalangeal joint in some degree of extension, in order to properly stretch the intrinsic muscles by flexing the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints.
The matter is further complicated by the shrinking and atrophy which the hand muscles may have experienced while healing and/or as a result of the injury which the hand has sustained. Thus, while a normal metacarpal phalangeal joint maximum extension may be in the 30-45 degree range, a hand undergoing rehabilitative therapy may only be able to manage 0 degrees flexion initially, which gradually increases over the therapy course.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an exercise glove for intrinsic muscles which incorporates means for adjusting a degree of extension imposed on the metacarpal phalangeal joints to accommodate the degree of the extensions of these joints possible for a given individual patient. As each patient progresses, the exercise glove for intrinsic muscles can be adjusted to provide constraint into increasing angles of metacarpal phalangeal joint extension, until as a result of the intrinsic muscle exercises facilitated by the exercise glove for intrinsic muscles, normal metacarpal phalangeal joint maximum extension in the 30-45 degree range is achieved. At this point the intrinsic muscle rehabilitative therapy has been successfully concluded.
In addition, it would be desirable to provide an assist to the flexion of the middle interphalangeal joint, by incorporating elastic members extending from the base of the thenar imminence to each middle finger segment. This assist aids in the stretching of the muscles being exercised.
Existing Designs
A number of designs for hand exercise apparatus have been proposed, but none of these accomplish the instant invention's function of maintaining the metacarpal phalangeal joints at a pre-determined extension angle appropriate for an individual patient, while the patient exercises the intrinsic muscles by flexion of the distal and middle interphalangeal joints.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,058 was granted Gustafson for an Apparatus for Effecting Stretching of Intrinsic Muscles and an Associated Method. While this patent taught a method and apparatus to statically provide forces to the hand which caused passive flexion of the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints and extension of the metacarpal phalangeal joints of the fingers, and employed a palmar arch support to resist excessive anterior translation of the flexor digitorum profundus tendon, this reference taught no active flexing movement of the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints, nor resistance to extension of same—only a static splint was disclosed. Thus this design was for a static splint muscle stretching device, not an exercise device.
Pub. No. US 2005/0124464 by Priore disclosed a gauntlet whose semi-rigid plates could be detachably and adjustably positioned relative to each other by means of hook and loop material. While this invention allowed some hand orientations to be constrained, this publication does not constitute priore art for the purposes of this disclosure, because no provision was taught to maintain the metacarpal phalangeal joints in a pre-determined degree of extension, in order to properly stretch the intrinsic muscles by flexing the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,220, 5,453,064 and 5,456,650 were granted Fasano, Williams Jr., and Williams Jr. et al. for gloves having pockets into which longitudinal resilient stiffening inserts could be inserted. The inserts would apply tension when the fingers and/or hand muscles were flexed, thereby increasing the exercise derived by their use. However, these patents did not teach any provision to maintain the metacarpal phalangeal joints in a pre-determined degree of extension, in order to properly stretch the intrinsic muscles by flexing the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints.
Quite a number of patents have been granted for gloves or gauntlets featuring elastic bands or springs running longitudinally down the fingers and to the wrist. These would provide a force resisting the movement of the fingers, so that the exercise derived from use of these devices would be increased. Some examples of this type of elastic band glove include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,103, 6,450,924 and 5,447,490, granted to Wiggins, Block, and Fula et al. While these provided for increased exercise in some hand muscles, these patents did not teach any provision to maintain the metacarpal phalangeal joints in a pre-determined degree of extension, in order to properly stretch the intrinsic muscles by flexing the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints.